Last month, a Harker Heights teacher traveled to Dallas to participate in a one-day workshop focused on teaching civics and American government.

Doris Stevenson, who teaches 12th grade government and economics at Harker Heights High School, attended the workshop, which offered teachers the opportunity to work closely with leading scholars, studying the U.S. Constitution as well as branches of the federal government.

Stevenson has been at the high school since she began teaching in 2003.

“I make both my government and economic classes do weekly current events because I believe that they should know what is going on in our city, state, country and also foreign countries,” she said. “I have enjoyed watching the students reinforce or change their minds about politics and the economy.”

Region 12 sent Stevenson an email about the humanities workshop, which piqued her interest and made her apply to attend.

Participants attended lectures and presentations in the morning. In the afternoon, they joined faculty in small workshops to examine primary sources and develop effective strategies for classroom instruction.

The workshop was held at the George W. Bush Presidential Library in Dallas and was sponsored by Humanities Texas.

Throughout the year, Humanities Texas partners with the state’s leading universities and cultural organizations to hold institutes and workshops supporting teachers’ intellectual and professional development. These programs enhance student learning by providing teachers the opportunity to work closely with distinguished humanities scholars and explore topics at the heart of the state’s social studies and language arts curricula, according to David Ayala of Humanities Texas.

“All of the speakers and the workshop inspired me, as a teacher, to share with my students the discovery of primary sources,” Stevenson said. “By using these primary sources, the students learn to teach themselves instead of the teacher pointing out the facts.”